The College
ews
VOL. XIX, No. 19
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1933
Copyright BRYN MAWR
COLLEGE NEWS. 1933
PRICE 10 CENTS
Pearl Buck Lectures
on Humor of Chinese
Chinese Are Mature Race;
Nothing Human That
v They D,o Not. Know
LITERATURE OF COMEDY
The famous authoress of The Good
Earth and Sons, Mrs. Pearl S.-^uck,
lectured in Goodhart on April 19, on
the "Chinese Sense of Humor." Hav-
ing lived so long among the Chinese,
Mrs. Buck has grown to have a deep
appreciation of them. She wishes
'that there might be more of an ex-
change of ideas between China and
the West; and that, as the best of the
Chinese students come to America to
study, we would send the best of our
students to Chinese universities to
study the literature, the philosophy,
and something of the life of the
Orient.
China, Mrs. Buck said, is not so
wellrknown or so well-liked as Japan;
for China, differing in her essential
nature from Japan, makes no effort
to have people like her. In Japan
one travels in comfort and meets with
a welcome everywhere, partly because
the Oriental feels instinctively that
every forigner has money to spend,
but partly through sheer courtesy. In
China, if one has friends, they show
one every courtesy, but the tourist
.simply does not exist for them; they
are too absorbed in their own life to
stop to regard him. The West thinks
of China in terms of its lower classes,
ignorant, dirty, sordid, simply be-
cause the West never meets with the
more intelligent people, f One can
travel from one end of China to the
other and never see the intellectual
life that is going on there.
Japan has a self-discipline and a
self-control unequalled by any other
country; and an artistic sense of
beauty in her houses, in her gardens,
iincl in her landscapes; but her sense
of humor is that of a child playing
practical jokes. China has a more
devil-may-care philosophy; she has
an eternal twinkle in her eye, and an
infallible readiness to appreciate a
joke. A hostile mob can be won Into
friendliness by a witty phrase.' China
, has probably the largest percentage
(Continued from Page Two)
Princeton Beats Varsity
in Well-Fought Match
In a post-season game played for
the benefit of the Scholarship Fund,
rinceton towered over the Varsity
basketball team by at least two feet
and by the score of 43-28.
The game began with girls' rules
and, although Princeton started off
with a rush, Bryn Mawr led at the
quarter. In the second quarter, Var-
sity had a good chance to pile up a
comfortable lead in preparation for
the second half, which was to be
played with boys' rules, but inaccur-
acy lost many points and Princeton
led by two points at the half. Al-
though Bridgman proved to be an
imni�sing obstacle in their path,
P/inceton easily walked away with
the second half, Upson leading the
offense and scoring twelve points.
The game as a whole was fast,
with plenty of excitement and the
basso profundo shouts are still ring-
ing in our ears. We hope that a
Princeton-Bryn Mawr game will be-
come a post-season custom.
The line-up was as follows:
Princeton Bryn Mawr
Hellerson ......f...........Collier
Upson ........f............Faeth
Mertz .........c.........Longacre
Perera .......s. c......Remington
Martin ........g........Bridgman
Good .........g.........Bowditch
1*�iat��Princeton: Hellerson, 14;
Upson, 20; Perera, 3; Martin, 4;
Good. 2. Bryn Mawr: Collier, 12;
Faeth, 16. Substitutions�Princton:
Perera for Upson, Perera for Mertz.
Bryn Mawr: Remington for Faeth,
Faeth for Remington, Jackson for
Bowditch.
CALENDAR
Thurs., April 27: Vocation-
al Tea and Social Service will
be conducted by Antoinette
Cannon. Common Room, 4.30
P. M.
Thurs., April 27: College
Junior Foils Fencing Cham-
pionship. 8.00 P. M., Gym.
Fri., April 28: T. S. Eliot
will speak on "Modern Poetry"
with illustrative readings.
Goodhart, 8.20 P. M.
Sat, April 29: Children's
Theatre of New York presents
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs for the benefit of the
Bryn Mawr Hospital, at 2.30
P. M. Tickets at the Publica-
tion Office, reserved, $1.50, and
general admission, $0.50.
Sun., April 30: Chapel,
conducted . by the Rev. Dr.
Henry Sloane Coffin. Music
Room, 7.30 P. M.
Mon., May 1: Chapel, Mrs.
Smith will speak on "Infla-
tion," 8.45 A. M.
Millikan Gives Lecture
on Structure of Atom
Contemporary Science Studies
Small Scale Phenomena,
Physicist Says
RADIATION GIVES CLUES
"The field of physical science has
j an advantage over those of the social
1 sciences in that there is a certain
amount of material about which sci-
entists agree, and then a fringe of
unknown where controversies occur,"
i said Professor Robert �Millikan, who
� was a winner of the Nobel Prize for
j his work in the measurement of the
I electron, when he spoke in Goodhart
I Hall, April 20, on "Probing the Nuc-
I leus of the Atom." The economic field
is all "fringe," for example, but if
\ one looks at the sweep and growth
! of physics, it is easy to see the devel-
! opment, from the day of Galileo to
! modern times, of established facts,
not theories.
For three hundred years up to 1900
Varsity Dramatics
iVlOQernizeS yJilde i physicists worked on the field of large
| scale phenomena, confirming earlier
! assumptions by accurate experiments.
*S| They realized that new discoveries
i could not be made until the old laws
j which are of universal application
had been made sound. In 1900 they
COACHING COMMENDEDl Prwewed >nt� a new vein, that of
______ I small scale phenomena, which in turn
Miss Bruere's Performance
Most Finished; Scenery
Brings Applause
(Especially Contributed by Mrs.
Elizabeth Norton Potter)
"Dear Lord Darlington, how thor-
oughly depraved you" are!" Surely
quickly spread into the field of atomic
structure in about 1913. I|. is only
in the last few years that scientists
have begun to get inside the nucleu's
Undergrad Elections
President�Molly Nichols.
Vice - President � Anita
Fouilhoux.
Secretary�Elizabeth Kent.
Treasurer � Marian Bridg-
man.
First Junior Member�Joan
Hopkfnson.
Second Junior Member�Re-
becca Perry.
Sophomore Member � Alice
Raynor.
Miracle Plays Revive
Spirit of Middle Ages
Barber, Eckstein, Thompson
Direct; Show Ingenuity
in Staging
* �
PARTS ARE WELL TAKEN
Mr. Warburg Lectures
on Travels in Persia
the Duchess' words epitomize the of the atom- The discoveries which
spirit of the age which Oscar Wilde' have been made are stiU somewhat
revelled in representing, the spirit in the nature of speculation, but
of those naughty, naughty nineties
when one delighted in being tremen-
what new knowledge there is has
come from an investigation of radi-
dously wicked. There have been many, ation- which is Professor Millikan's
in recent years, who have pointed to own sPecial field-
thp present as another dreadfully A new form of radiation has been
wicked era, and, with this in mfnd, it I found to exist,�cosmic rays, which
was perhaps less astonishing than I <lo not. come from the earth, from in-
might have been expected to discover! side the earth, nor from the sur-
Lord Darlington amid black oil cloth! rounding atmosphere, but rather from
and chromium plate and to find Lady| outside this atmosphere. Radio-act-
Agatha dressed by Schiaparelli. The I 've waves' which are of terrestrial
Varsity Players, doubtless, had rea-| nature and are shooting through a
sons of their own for setting Lady person at all times have been known
Windcrmere'8 Fan in the twentieth
century; and, although one may have
thought, a little regretfully, of the
limitless opportunities for Victorian
extravagances offered by this play,
which dates�if any play ever dated
since 1910. These cosmic rays, how-
ever, have a. far greater degree of
ionization than even the gamma rays
thrown off by radium, and are much
harder, possessing a greater pene-
trating power. A self-recording elec-
in the time of furbelows, one mustj troscope sent up ninety-three hun-
admit if the play had to be modern- j <lreds of the way to the top of the
ized, it could not have been done! atmosphere was found to have dis-
more charmingly. The settings were: charged one hundred times more
extremely effective, the one for the1 quickly there than on the earth, and
second act being especially skillful;: that the rate of discharge increased
and the costumes were admirably! (Continued on Page Four)
matched although the obviousness ------------------------
of contrasting Mrs. Erlynne's scar- Courses for Next Year
let dress with the black and white. Discussed in Chapel
set of the third act was unnecessary ---------
ily crude. There will be a number of new
Perhaps another factor that made! courses in the academic schedule for
one aware of the great difference be- J next year which Mrs. Manning an-
tween the world of today and that of nounced last Thursday in chapel.
Oscar Wilde was the impersonation Mrs. Clara Marburg Kirk, who is
of the male characters.^ In our own coming to Bryn Mawr from Vassar,
day, only Saki has tried to recapture will give a course in the Modern Nov-
something of the studied wit of those el of the 19th and 20th centuries,
clever gentlemen so ready with their This will replace Dr. Chew's course
epigrams and caustic comments. That in Advanced Criticism. Mrs. Kirk
kind of suavity is not apparent to- will also have charge of Freshman
day, and it was not apparent on Sat- F.nglish. Miss .Meigs will give a
urday evening. Perhaps it was an course in Short Story Writing and
will continue Experimental Writing.
Miss Latham's Playwriting, which
has been accepted so enthusiastically
this year, will also be continued for
1933-34. Mrs. King has found that
the young poets of Bryn Mawr are
too modest for a course which is as
entirely creative as Versification has
been. She will therefore replace it
by a study of Modern Poetry, in
whhrh writing will not be necessary,
but will be encouraged. Dr. Hcrben
will direct the course in First Year
English Literature. a
The Anna Shaw Lectureship will
bring a very interesting group to Bryn
Mawr next year. The six weeks*
series of lectures will be divided
among three important speakers.
(Continued on Pace Three)
unfamiliarity with the spirit of the
time, perhaps it was a slight unfami-
liarity with some of the lines of the
play that robbed the gentlemen of
the cast of the quality which the
Duchess admired in Darlington, "the
charming, wicked creature." At any
rate there was an earnestness about
these young men that was highly ad-
mirable, but hardly in character.
(Continued on Page Six)
Wit's End
Wit's End is open to general
contribution. Just choose a
pen name and either give your
material to some member of the
News board, or bring it to the
News office.
In the Music Room, Monday after-
noon, Mr. Edward Warburg gave a
talk on his trip to Persia with Pro-
fessor Arthur Pope to photograph Is-
lamic architecture, and devoted a few
minutes to remarks on Russia.
Mr. Warburg and Professor. Pope
traveled into Persia by way of Rus-
sia, and, because of numerous delays
caused by custom officials and faulty
methods of shipping cars and equip-
ment, spent several weeks there.
Few people in Russia know what
all America and the rest of the out-
side world are saying about them, and
those few are located in the large
cities. "The youth of Russia, espe-
cially, know nothing but Russia."
They have grown up with the pres-
ent system and can imagine nothing
else. The older generation jumped
on the band-wagon, as it were, and
are hanging on without conviction.
All the construction work is being
done by the young men of twenty-
live years of age.
Education there is, for and by the
young- people. Organizations similar
to the American Boy and Girl Scouts
carry on a course of training parallel
to that of the schools. The children
are divided into groups roughly clas-
sified by age, and one passes from
one rank to the next by means of
examinations. The highest rank is
that of the Communist party. Every
one learns by himself to be. ame to
pass on to the next rank, and then
is "a tremendous urge to master
everything possible.'.' This sort of
community existence takes the place
of family life, which has been com-
pletely broken up. The higher up in
rank a man rises, the more responsi-
bility he is given, and the more se-
vere are the penalties inflicted if he
does wrong.
Students are given free tickets to
the theatre, to the movies and to art
galleries, all of which are considered
an important part of their education.
The pictures shown at the movies ary
not propaganda films, but treat the
problems of the day in an exciting,
realistic" way. "Everything in Rus-
sia is on demand, they want to get
ahead) although their only reward
lies in public opinion, in rising in
the estimation of their fellows."
Moreover, they are not trying to sell
their idea to other nations, but are
merely trying to work out a satis-
factory solution of their problem.
Their spirit may easily lead the way
to progress, even if their present
form of communism is unsuccessful.
"In Russia, as in Palestine, some-
thing is happening."
In Persia Mr. Warburg and Pro-
fessor Pope encountered many and
varied difficulties in travelling. Their
car was in poor condition, and did
not make motoring very pleasant
through this high but arid country.
Trees are extremely rare in Persia,
as are rocks; there being only low
bushes and endless expanses of sand.
The topography of the country seems
to consist of a series of mountain
ranges, which slope gently downward
toward rivers, the undulating slope of
the water-shed extending often fifty
miles. The people are absolutely pov-
(Contlnued on Page Five)
(Especially Contributed by Miss
Enid Glen)
Many people on the campus are
agreed that the production of a medi-
eval play at least once every year,
at Christmas or at Easter, should
become a Bryn Mawr tradition; the
performance of the Second Shep-
herd's Play at Christmas three or
four years ago set a fine precedent,
and the Chester Deluge given on the
Green on Sunday was almost as
great a success. It is the kind of
play the students do best�they fall
easily and completely into the spirit
of it; they reproduce excellently its
mixture of reverence and'boisterous-
ness; and it was clear from yester-
day's performance what scope it gives
for ingenuity not only in setting and
in costume, but also in the fine points
of production.
Miss Barber and Miss Eckstein de-
serve high praise. Artistic perception
and care and a great deal of solid
hard work produced the easy and sat-
isfying effects of the grouping, the
colors and the designs of the cos-
tumes. The choice of cast, too, was
very good. God spoke with a mighty
and clearly-heard voice, with proper
dignity, at the end with pleasing
benevolence. His two attendants,
whom he consulted at times, not too
obviously, looked properly angelic
against the clear sky. Noah's part
is not an easy one; on him depends
the sustaining of the reverence in the
play- Miss Stone's sense of humor
threatened near the beginning to
overcome her, but throughout the
rest of the play-she acted admir-
ably, with the proper patriarchal be-
nevolence, especially good in her re-
ception of the animals as they were
brought in to the Ark, in the sending
off of the dove and raven, and in her
ushering about of the family. Noah's
wife, too, had the right spirit, as
she had the right shape�from her
daring leap from the Ark scaffold to
her struggles oh her return to it
(Continued on Page Three)
Faculty Show
A Faculty Show will be giv-
en, May 10, for the benefit of
an; entrance scholarship be-
ing raised by the Faculty in
honor of Professor Leuba.
Mrs. Pearl Buck Grants
News Special Interview
"I have^ lived in China most of my
life and have known more Chinese
than people of my own race," said
Mrs. Pearl S. Buck, in explaining
her unequalled knowledge of Chinese
psychology and life, x "My best
friends, and most of my friends, are
Chinese; the houses I have lived in
have been Chinese homes. During my
childhood, my father was a mission-
ary in the interior of China, and
there I grew up and learned the lan-
guage as well as my own."
Mrs. Buck then went on to talk of
her plans and projected publications.
The trilogy of which The Good Earth
and Sons are the first two books will
soon be completed by a third. The
Good Earth was the background for
the trilogy; Sons told the tale of the
Warlord, who has been an integral
part of Chinese history, as the dic-
tator-general has been in western civ-
ilization; the last book, which is still
nameless, will be concerned with
Modern China, the Young China of
the last fifty years. Before this
comes out, another book, not connect-
ed with the trilogy in any way, will
be published under the title of Tin
Mother.
For the last five or six years. Mrs.
Buck has been working on the trans-
lation of a Chinese novel, called Skui
Hu, which was written five hundred
years ago. The book is in the preaaei
now and will appea> next summer
under the title of All Men Art
Brothers. Shui Hu is a foundation
novel in Chinese literature, a Robin
Hood type of story, dealing with the
adventures of an outlaw band. _ Re-
(Contlnued on rage Four)
X